Lars Nootbaar still hasn’t played this spring as he works back from heel surgeries. Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat noted yesterday that the left fielder is trending towards beginning the season on the injured list. There’s no clear timetable for his season debut.
An injured list stint has been a possibility since the Cardinals announced that Nootbaar had surgery to address Haglund’s deformities on both heels in early October. The health uncertainty seemingly took the outfielder off the trade block over the winter. Nootbaar was loosely tied to the Rangers, Mets and Pirates at points throughout the offseason. There was too much uncertainty in his health outlook for the Cardinals to net a strong enough return to move him.
The Cardinals have two years of arbitration control over Nootbaar. The lefty hitter posted above-average offensive numbers over his first three and a half MLB seasons. He had a career-worst .234/.325/.361 showing across 583 plate appearances last year. Nootbaar is making $5.35MM this season and seems likely to be available at the deadline as long as he’s healthy.
Nootbaar’s injury leaves the Opening Day left field job available. The Cardinals were in the market for a right-handed hitting outfielder late in the offseason but didn’t come away with any MLB additions. They signed Nelson Velázquez to a minor league deal. He’s mashing at a .333/.440/.524 clip with four walks and two strikeouts in 25 plate appearances this spring. They’re also getting utility infielders Thomas Saggese and José Fermín outfield work in camp. One of those players could split time with lefty-hitting Nathan Church as a stopgap left field platoon.
One idea not under consideration: carrying highly-regarded outfield prospect Joshua Báez on the Opening Day roster. The Cardinals optioned the 22-year-old to Triple-A Memphis yesterday. Báez had an excellent camp, slugging three homers while going 7-21 in 10 games. Báez has no Triple-A experience, though, so it’s hardly a surprise that he’ll begin the season in the minors.
A former second-round pick, Báez floundered early in his minor league career. He firmly put himself back on the prospect radar last season. Báez combined for a .287/.384/.500 slash with 20 homers between High-A and Double-A. Even more impressively, he cut his strikeout rate to a league average 21.4% clip after fanning in more than 34% of his plate appearances in his first three professional seasons. He’ll look to follow up his impressive Spring Training by maintaining that improved contact rate in his first look at Triple-A pitching.
St. Louis also optioned catching prospects Jimmy Crooks and Leonardo Bernal over the weekend. That leaves Ivan Herrera, Pedro Pages and Yohel Pozo as the three catchers on the 40-man roster who remain in camp. Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that the team intends to carry all three on the Opening Day roster. Pages will be the primary option behind the dish, while Pozo will work in a traditional backup role. Herrera will continue seeing more time as a designated hitter than at catcher, though the Cardinals aren’t moving him off the position entirely.
As long as the Cardinals finish in last in the Central, it’ll be a good year.
The Cardinals are in a full blown rebuild and will still finish ahead of the Pirates!
I sincerely agree. The NL Central is going to be competitive this year so that makes it tough on the Cardinals. But I really think we can finish 4th.
And I mean no disrespect to the Pirates but I feel the Cardinals have enough good, young talent that they will be better.
Prediction of end of season batting averages; Jordan Walker .215: Nolan Gorman . 221. But I hope I’m wrong.
As a collective the starting 9 will have a WRC under 100. Makes it look like replacement level players are actually tough to find.
I think at the beginning, say the first 30-40 games, Oli will be throwing all kinds of things against the wall to see what sticks.
Going to see a lot of different lineups til he sees flashes of consistency. Maybe right out the gate, who knows.
Is there any word on how far along Noot is? still on a walking machine?
He’s taking reps in the outfield but not running bases yet. Probably start the season on the IL, running out of time in ST.
OUCH! That is an injury that would make running extremely painful and make it hard to drive off his back foot to hit.
Should be a fun year regardless,
Noot should be gone once healthy.
Walker should be in AAA
Gorman should’ve been gone.
I’ll admit I was against trading Gorman and Walker when they actually had Value. Thought they would replace Nado and Goldy. I did however think we should have gotten rid of Noot when he was untouchable. But we probably would have just gotten another high end sp prospect to break.
I wanted to trade Walker a couple of years ago. Same with Tink Hence. Hence won’t stay healthy and Walker just doesn’t have the hunger. If you look at him vs. Josh Baez, you see the difference.
Herrera needs to be the leftfielder. It’s the best solution for the present and the future. There is no value in wasting time or energy in trying to make up for developmental failures of the past. Find the best path forward and move on.
Almost rather just have Ivan at 1B
Burly is decent. Probably not a long term solution @1B
Trade him at the deadline too.